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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dayuhan who wrote (13825)	10/26/2003 2:59:07 AM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793731

Why is it that I don't believe a word these people say? But I know I have to listen to them? ____________________________________________ North Korea Rethinks U.S. Offer In an about-face, Pyongyang says it will consider scrapping its nuclear arms program if Washington signs a nonaggression pact. By Barbara Demick LA Times Staff Writer October 26, 2003 SEOUL -- In its first concession after months of hostility, North Korea on Saturday signaled that it would consider President Bush's offer of written security assurances in return for dismantling its nuclear program. The conciliatory statement, first reported by the North Korean news agency, marked an abrupt about-face for the government in Pyongyang, which days earlier had ridiculed Bush's offer as "laughable" and "not worth considering." There was speculation in Seoul that the change of heart was a result of pressure from China, which brokered six-party talks in August and has been trying to coax the North Koreans back to the table for another round. Wu Bangguo, the leader of the Chinese legislature, is scheduled to arrive in Pyongyang on Tuesday for a three-day trip during which the issue of restarting the talks should be high on the agenda. North Korea's move came after a concession by Bush, who said Oct. 19 that if the regime dismantled its nuclear program, his administration would consider giving the North written security assurances that the U.S. would not attack the nation. Bush's offer fell short of what the North Koreans had been demanding — a formal nonaggression pact — but still represented a major turnaround for an administration that had previously insisted that the dismantling of weapons be a precondition for negotiations. In Washington on Saturday, a State Department spokeswoman confirmed that the North Koreans had responded to Bush's proposal. "The North Koreans passed us a message late yesterday in the New York channel," said spokeswoman Susan Pittman, using the department's term for sporadic contacts between North Korean diplomats at the United Nations and officials at the State Department. "The message was similar to the Foreign Ministry statement. "We hope that North Korea will return to the six-party talks in the near future to negotiate all the issues." In a statement attributed to a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, the North Korean news agency reported Saturday that the government was "ready to consider President Bush's remark on a written nonaggression guarantee if it came from the intention to coexist with us and is something to positively operate on the realization of a package settlement proposal based on the principle of simultaneous actions." Although the North Korean statement was terse and vaguely written, it marked a rare moment of civility after months of vituperation toward the United States and was roundly cheered in diplomatic quarters. It was devoid of the insulting language that usually characterizes North Korean statements about the United States, particularly Bush. "Today's announcement is a huge advance," Kim Sung Han, a North Korea analyst at a think tank affiliated with the South Korean Foreign Ministry, told reporters in Seoul. "We had expected North Korea to accept President Bush's proposal. It is a positive development ahead of new six-party talks," said Ban Ki Moon, a foreign policy advisor to the South Korean president. Iran also bowed to international pressure several days ago, saying it would suspend its uranium enrichment program and sign an agreement permitting international inspections. South Korea, China, Russia and Japan, all parties in the North Korea talks, have been pushing hard for both Washington and Pyongyang to moderate their positions. North Korea is believed to be forging ahead as quickly as possible to build a nuclear weapon. The isolationist communist country said last month that it had completed extraction of weapons-grade plutonium from nuclear-reactor fuel rods and that it might test a nuclear bomb shortly. If left unchecked, the North Koreans could produce five or six nuclear devices in addition to the two they are believed to have developed. U.S. allies in the region — particularly South Korea — believe that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il is using the threats out of fear that he could become the target of a preemptive attack such as the one that took place in Iraq this year, and that the United States must offer security guarantees in order for the North Koreans to disarm. Bush's offer, which according to officials in Seoul was more of a concept than a formal proposal, was made last weekend on the eve of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok, Thailand. The United States has repeatedly ruled out a formal nonaggression pact — the very term, diplomats point out, having been discredited by the pact that Adolf Hitler signed with Poland before his 1939 invasion. At the same time, many believe that North Korea has reason to fear a U.S. invasion, given that Bush has lumped it together with Iraq and Iran in an "axis of evil" and that the president has expressed the same personal loathing for North Korean leader Kim Jong Il as he has for Saddam Hussein. As one Western diplomat put it, referring to North Korea, "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that somebody is not out to get you." Meanwhile, a U.S. congressman, Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), is heading to Pyongyang this week and hopes to secure a meeting with the North Korean leader. Weldon, who also visited North Korea in May, said that the North Koreans wanted to negotiate a multi-stage deal whereby they would gradually freeze, then dismantle, their nuclear program in return for security guarantees, financial aid and better relations with the U.S. Weldon is one of a number of Republicans who believe that the Bush administration should seek to strike a deal with Kim. "There are those in the administration who would like to take a more hawkish view. But I would say sanctions did not work with Saddam. They didn't work with Castro. Until we've used up all our diplomatic options, we shouldn't give up on North Korea," Weldon said last week. A 1994 deal under which North Korea was supposed to mothball its weapons program in exchange for energy assistance broke down last year amid revelations that the regime had been cheating on the pact. latimes.com

To: Dayuhan who wrote (13825)	10/27/2003 4:14:07 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793731

This point certainly zipped right by our major media. ___________________________________________________ Posted on: Sunday, October 19, 2003 THE RISING EAST Bush's skipping South Korea points to shaky relations By Richard Halloran - Honolulu Advertiser The glaring omission in President George Bush's journey to Asia is a stop in South Korea, which speaks volumes to the sorry state into which relations between Washington and Seoul have plunged. The president, whose trip began in Japan and the Philippines on Friday, is scheduled to visit Thailand and Australia, with which the United States has security treaties. He plans stops in Singapore, with which the United States has an informal alliance, and Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation in which the United States seeks to encourage the campaign against terror. Only South Korea, with which Washington has a security treaty and in which 37,000 American troops are deployed, has been left off the itinerary. President Bush and first lady Laura Bush boarded Air Force One on Thursday for an Asia tour that excludes South Korea. Among the likely reasons for the omission are disagreements over troops for Iraq. Associated Press Moreover, this is the first time in memory an American president has traveled to Japan and not South Korea. Given the historic animosity between the two, the United States usually tries to be even-handed in its dealings with each. The reasons for excluding Seoul are evident: Rampaging South Korean anti-Americanism, concern for Bush's security, lukewarm South Korean support for the United States in Iraq, differences in approach to North Korea, and anxiety over the stability of President Roh Moo-hyun's government. The president's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, sought to be reassuring when she briefed the press in Washington: "Let me just say that we have no really stronger alliance than the alliance we have with South Korea." That seemed to be diplomatic double-speak intended to paper over the quarrels. Bush headed to Bangkok, Thailand, for a meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, where Rice said he intends to emphasize "the need to put security at the heart of APEC's mission because prosperity and security are inseparable." In Bangkok, Bush is scheduled to meet with Roh on the sidelines of the APEC gathering. South Korea pledged earlier this month to send more troops to Iraq but did not specify how many or whether they would be combat or noncombat forces. Seoul has been reluctant to send the troops Washington has requested, in part because of opposition at home. Roh's chief adviser for foreign affairs, Ban Ki-moon, told reporters in Seoul that the meeting "will be a chance for President Roh to explain the government's position as the issue of dispatching troops to Iraq has become a key security issue." That seemed to be political double-speak intended to skim over South Korean opposition to the deployment. U.S. politics most likely played a part in the decision to skip Seoul. Bush, already under fire for his stance in Iraq and heading into a re-election campaign, does not want American voters to see televised pictures of frenzied anti-American demonstrations. Moreover, Bush is evidently skeptical of Roh, who campaigned a year ago with a stridently anti-American posture. As a South Korean scholar has written of Roh: "He was not ashamed of being anti-American." About the time Roh took office in February, however, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld suggested American forces be reduced or withdrawn from South Korea. Since then, the United States has begun to move its headquarters out of Seoul and reposition its troops from posts between the demilitarized zone and Seoul to garrisons well south of Seoul. Their duties will also change from helping to defend South Korea to preparing for missions elsewhere in Asia. That threat produced a change as Roh and his associates urged the Yankees not to go home. Roh underscored that point during his first trip to Washington in May, but a 36-minute summit meeting, cursory remarks in the White House's Rose Garden and a routine joint declaration did not provide much substance. Bush and Roh agree North Korea must abandon its nuclear ambitions, but disagree on how to achieve that. The American takes a hard line, the South Korean, a softer approach. U.S. officials are watching the South-North talks taking place in Pyongyang, wondering if the South will agree to something the United States would not like. The Bush administration is worried about Roh's political longevity because the South Korean leader is in serious trouble. He has rejected an offer by his Cabinet to resign to deflect criticism directed at him, but has called for a referendum on his rule, saying he would resign if the voters did not support him. Rice, asked for a reaction, wisely stayed away from that question. "This is a matter for the South Korean government," she said. "Because it's a vibrant democracy, I'm certain that South Korea can figure this one out." Richard Halloran is a former New York Times correspondent in Asia and Washington. Reach him at oranhall@hawaii.rr.com. the.honoluluadvertiser.com